Lessons from history

Today I was reading an article by an American religious commentator concerned with the large numbers of migrants coming into the country, staying in blocs together, not assimilating and causing problems because of their religion.

Does this sound familiar to Australians?

But the article was from the 1880s, the commentator was a Methodist, and the problem migrants were Catholics of Irish and Italian descent.

It reminded me yet again that we need to look at questions of migration and Islam through the long lens of history and not the myopic lenses of Jones, Bolt, Abbott and Trump. We as Catholics were once perceived as a problem too.

What can we do to welcome, engage and embrace migrants of Muslim faith, who have every bit as much right to migrate to Australia as did our Irish and English ancestors?

Well, this month is the Ramadan fast. If you know a Muslim, or you see one and don't know what to say, say "Ramadan mubarak" which is pretty much "happy Ramadan". And for Muslims, Ramadan is a happy time, a time of striving for holiness, and then each evening the fast is broken with family and friends at a shared Iftar meal. Next Wednesday is the celebration of Eid al-Fitr, the end of Ramadan, kind of like Easter to our Lent. The greeting to give a Muslim on that day is Eid Mubarak.




Comments

  1. Dominic2 July 2016 at 01:24

    Great perspective Jim. In our hotel room here in Nairobi we have a few Gideon provided bibles and a translation of the Quran. I picked up the Quran and it was interesting to read the introduction. I'm going to read a little more.
    As for your observation on the rebel rousing Tykes of the 19th century it seems that too often we are guided by the popularist views of or politicians and leaders and not the real truth.
    Cheers mate and have a great week.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Unknown29 July 2016 at 14:40

    Excellent comments, as were your homilies on this topic before you left. I experienced Ramadan in Dubai first hand and can confirm they are all so happy to participate. Because you can;t eat or drink in public (during daylight hours), the hotels and shopping centres set up special areas with privacy screens to cater for non-Muslim visitors, which was much appreciated. I was actually happy to not eat, but no water during 40+ degree days was sheer torture and I had to relent. Now that is real dedication for you, I don't know how they do it.

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